Manhattan wrestling coach Robert Gonzales continues to bring in awards

MANHATTAN, Kan. (WIBW) -- Manhattan High School wrestling coach Robert Gonzales continues to add trophies to his already large collection.

Just a few weeks after being named National Coach of the Year for boys wrestling by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Coaches Association, Gonzales won the Midwest Coach of the Year for 2017.

Gonzales has been coaching wrestling for 41 years and last year he guided Manhattan to a 6A state championship.

For the longtime wrestling coach, the key for dominating on the mat whether it be this year, last season or in the past...starts with fear.

"For me I've kept it pretty simple, our success is we are going to have a fear of failure. So we are going to out work everybody. I'm not the greatest athletic coach, I'm not the coach that knows everything, but probably in all of these 41 years we've out worked people and then our kids, we want to have a passion," said Gonzales. "The passion has got to be from me, to the staff, to our student-athletes, to our community and everybody knows where ever we are at that we are going to out work you."

"We aren't necessarily going to have the greatest athletes but you have to work hard to beat Manhattan," said Gonzales.

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